Hawks' defense quiets Dogins in second half
| Saturday, Oct 31 2009 12:04 AM
Last Updated Saturday, Oct 31 2009 12:04 AM
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Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Ridgeview High's #34 Maurice Boyd gets facemasked by Centennial High's #6 Elijah Trail early in the 1st quarter of their game Friday night.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Centennial High's #30 Myron Moore is slowed up momentarily by Ridgeview High's #44 Coty Danner allowing Ridgeview's defense to catch up with the play in their Friday night game.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Centennial High's #18 Brock Baize goes for an interception in the 1st half of their game against Ridgeview.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Ridgeview High's #21 Tyler Dogins was named Offensive MVP for the Southwest Yosemite League.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Centennial High's #8 Mark Ritchie streches toward the goal line but is stopped by the Ridgeview defense in the 1st half of their game Friday.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Ridgeview High's #9 Kinikini celebrates a 4th and goal stop of Centennial High in the 1st half of their game Friday.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Ridgeview High's #21 Tyler Dogins goes in for a touchdown as Centennial's #18 Brock Baize tries to bring him down.
Friday night initially looked like a running showdown between Centennial's Myren Moore and Ridgeview's Tyler Dogins.
But Centennial shut down Dogins and the rest of the Wolf Pack ground game in the second half, sparking a 31-25 win at Centennial.
"This game got us focused on the rest of the season," said Moore, a senior who led the way for the Golden Hawks with 152 yards on 17 carries, including two 1-yard TD runs and a 56-yard score.
"The way we're looking at it is we've got seven games left with the playoffs," Moore added.
Centennial (5-3 overall, 2-2 Southwest Yosemite League) trailed 17-14 at halftime, mainly because of the Dogins-led Ridgeview ground game.
Ridgeview (5-4, 1-4 SWYL) had 191 rushing yards in the first half. Dogins had 98 of those and touchdowns of 7 and 4 yards.
Dogins added a 1-yard TD run and two-point conversion run in the second half, but he only had 13 net rushing yards in 13 carries after halftime. That gave him 111 yards on 28 carries.
"We had a lot of missed tackles in the first half," Centennial coach Bryan Nixon said. "We did a lot better job in the second half. ... The defense did the job and the offense put points on the board."
The Golden Hawks again were missing first-string quarterback Cody Kessler with an ankle injury. Nixon smiled when asked about Kessler's possible return next week but wasn't ready to say that's a sure thing.
"We'll see," he said.
Mark Ritchie did a solid job as Kessler's replacement, completing 13-of-22 passes for 160 yards, including a 61-yard touchdown to Tyler Fries in the third quarter. He also ran for 54 yards.
"I'm just trying to get it to the receivers and make the right reads," Ritchie said.
"We had a lot of guys step up," Nixon said. "Mark did a good job tonight."
But this game boiled down to Ridgeview's inability to run the ball in the second half. After 28 rushing attempts in the first half, with seven runs of 10 or more yards, the Wolf Pack attempted only 18 runs in the second half and no run gained more than six yards.
"Give them credit. They tightened up their defense," said Ridgeview coach Dennis Manning. "They're a good football team. They beat Liberty for a reason.
"They played great defense in the second half. That's the bottom line."
Centennial led 28-25 when it took possession on the Golden Hawks' 28 with 7:08 left. Centennial drove to the 15, using 5:25 of the clock, to set up Cole Hallum's 32-yard field goal with 1:33 left that provided some insurance.
Ridgeview was unable to move the ball on its subsequent possession and eventually turned the ball over on downs at its 7-yard line with less than a minute remaining. Centennial then ran out the clock.
